


Taking Chances

by Trochan03



Series: Not Another Reincarnation Fic [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Because I can, Canon-Typical Violence, Crack Treated Seriously, F/M, Fluff and Crack, Gai deserves more love, Hatake Kakashi is a Little Shit, Hatake Kakashi is a Troll, I haven't decided, I'm Bad At Tagging, Image Is Everything, Kinda, M/M, Not Beta Read, OC is lowkey pagan, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Past Lives, Reincarnation, Self-Insert, Timeskips, Youth, all she wants is to run her business and live a long happy life, author is a hairstylist and barber who desperately misses work, author is making a lot of assumptions about culture and society in the Narutoverse, bet you couldn't have guessed that, but seriously Kishimoto, especially civilian culture, gratuitous abuse of the butterfly effect, let's smash canon, made-up historical sites, may or may not eventually contain smut, non-ninja main character, not really - Freeform, pages and pages of notes, rated for language and, researching for this fic has caused at least three breakdowns, so instead, surprise haircuts, the denail is strong in this one, tried to make it canon compliant, why can't you worldbuild?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:07:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28495098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trochan03/pseuds/Trochan03
Summary: Growing up in a small nameless farming village with memories of a past life in a busy city of towering buildings, Momoka couldn’t help but want something more from her new life. So she makes a plan, and before long she’s standing before the red gates of Konoha and ready to make all her dreams come true. But why does everything look so vaguely familiar?She wasn’t prepared for this. She wasn’t prepared for any of this. She certainly wasn’t prepared for him.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Yamato | Tenzou, Maito Gai | Might Guy/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Not Another Reincarnation Fic [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087316
Comments: 37
Kudos: 184
Collections: A Collection of Beloved Inserts





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Are we all still supposed to put the disclaimer that we don't own Naruto or make any profit off this, or have we already realized that if we did we wouldn't be posting here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's been awhile since I've written anything (at least a decade -please be kind to me!), but back in July as I was reading and looking around I noticed a serious lack of Gai fics -most of them side pairings with super timid civillians or kunoichi that are almost female versions of him (or Kakashi)- so I thought I would try my hand and do something a little bit different. That's not to say there aren't some amazing works out there, I'm currently enjoying Spear & Shield by Hadley_sensei quite a bit, I just feel Gai deserves more love than he gets. And I honestly get why. He's a hard character to write seriously while not making him OOC.
> 
> Now, 6 months later after several breakdowns, researching, bouncing ideas off of my cousin, planning, and procrastinating and I have a fully developed series completely outlined! That's right, a series! There will be a second, companion piece coming eventually following the plot line from another (canon) character's perspective. I'm planning to write them so that they can be enjoyed wholly separately or together at the same time with minimal overlap beyond what is necessary. I hate extreme repetitiveness like that when I'm reading, so I'll try not to do it to you either. I also plan to have a collection of Omakes for the series, and already have an idea for a 3rd story for when the first 2 are done that you may see allusions to here and there.
> 
> Anyways, here we are ready to start posting just in time for Gai's birthday! Happy Birthday, Maito Gai!

Imai Momoka was an odd child by all accounts according to the people of the small farming village not far from Konohagakure that she was born into. Sure, she was a pretty child with her father’s wavy, dark auburn hair and hazel eyes and her mother’s light olive toned skin, but she was still odd.

As an infant she didn’t fuss as much as other babies, which one might have thought eerie if it wasn’t for the fact that she babbled and “talked” all the time instead leading everyone to believe that she was just a very happy baby. She also seemed to understand what people were saying to and around her, was very curious about her surroundings, and hit all of her developmental milestones a little faster than normal. Not fast enough to be considered a prodigy by any means, but enough to amaze the adults around her.

It wasn’t until Momoka was two that the oddities started to be noticeable. Every so often she seemed to go into a daze, as if she were daydreaming, and she would mutter to herself in some “baby language” she had made up. “Nothing to be concerned about,” her parents told themselves, “she will grow out of it.”

Only she never did. It didn’t stop her from learning to speak properly, which she also grasped more quickly than other children in the village her age, so they left it alone.

And while her parent’s had dreaded the “terrible twos” and prepared themselves for the inevitable tantrums they were warned about, they were not prepared for what actually came. She didn’t ever throw one of the dreaded screaming tantrums, but she would get a serious look on her pudgy little face and firmly say “no” when she didn’t want something. She held no qualms in making what she wanted or didn’t want clear in an almost adult-like way, limited only by her still small vocabulary. “Momo-chan’s just strong willed,” her parent’s would say, “she knows what she wants and is so mature too. We’ve truly been blessed.”

In fact, Momoka was so well behaved as a toddler that it did seem like they were, which the rest of the villagers thought was an oddity in and of itself. She never got into anything she wasn’t supposed to. Never fought her baths, bedtimes, or naps. She ate everything given to her, even her vegetables, without complaint. She always played nicely, almost indulgently, with the other children of the village and never fought over toys. She even completely skipped the annoyingly incessant “why” phase, much to her parent’s delight.

The only time she ever got into trouble was when she was four and her mother walked into the bathroom to find Momoka standing on her little step stool, looking in the mirror, and cutting chunks of her long, wavy hair to just below chin length with the kitchen shears. After a thorough scolding, and more tears from her mother than Momoka herself, the rest of her hair was cut to match. All Momoka had to say about it was “I like it short” as she smiled at her reflection admiring her new choppy bob.

The second time she was caught sneaking the shears into the bathroom several months later her parents knew there would be no growing Momoka’s hair long again until Momoka decided she wanted to. She never did.

Unbeknownst to the villagers and even Momoka’s own parent’s there was a reason for her oddities that only Momoka knew. The truth of the matter was that this was not Momoka’s first life, and she knew it. Her memories of her past life weren’t perfect, flashes of them coming at random causing her to space out as she remembered, but even then she knew enough to know. And, seriously, what the fuck?

She had lived somewhere else before that was very different from where she was now. For one, technology in her old life somehow was so much more advanced, which made absolutely no sense to her at all. How does technology get worse over time? What she wouldn’t do for a Smartphone and some Wi-Fi right now. Shit, she’d even settle for an old desktop and dial-up at this point.

The language here, while vaguely familiar, was different than what she spoke before (and still could, thank you very much). She could remember going to school as a child the first time, and after high school instead of going off to college like most of her friends she went to cosmetology school to pursue her passion for hair cutting and coloring and became a hairstylist. She could even remember going back to the hell that is beauty school in order to get dual licensed as a barber because she wanted to be able to do everything.

She remembered moving to “the city” to advance her career and meeting her best friend in her new co-worker, Izzy. She missed Izzy so much. They were so quirky and fun in ways that no one in this new place seemed to be. She missed gossiping with Izzy over drinks at the local gay bar after work about the day’s drama. She missed Izzy talking her into letting them change her hair color yet again, or cutting it into this style they saw at the last hair show that they wanted to practice, because no one else would be their guinea pig. Hell, she even missed Izzy’s “otaku” rants as they shared whatever anime they were watching now and sometimes forced her to watch with them.

She was amused when she realized that her birthday was still the same as before: March 18th. ‘Hopefully people in this place have less of a hard on for hating Pisces here,’ she thought to herself. ‘If the zodiac is even a thing here.’

She was less amused to be a child again, losing the autonomy of adulthood and having to rely on her new parents and having to watch what she said in her new language to keep from getting into trouble for using “adult words”. Thank whatever gods there were that they didn’t understand her old language, otherwise her mouth would already have been well acquainted with the flavor of this place’s soap she was sure. Not that her new parents were strict or anything. She couldn’t seem to remember much of her old parents, but these new ones were really good, kind people who genuinely loved her, so she did her best to cause them as little trouble as possible and found herself loving them back as well. There were also a few other perks to being a child again, like little to no responsibilities and all the naps she ever wanted, so it wasn’t all terrible.

There were only two things that she noticed in this new life that bothered her. The first, most immediate being how conservative the culture she had been born into seemed to be. It was a bit too “Old World” for her with its strict conformity to gender roles. Maybe it was different elsewhere, but here in this little village she was raised in there was a definite expectation of what was the “man’s job” and what was “women’s work”, and it left a nasty taste in her mouth. And don’t even get her started on how young everyone was getting married and popping out babies. They were younger than she was when she died at almost 25 in her last life for fuck’s sake, and she knew she had been nowhere near ready for kids back then! Children raising children practically in her mind.

The other thing that bothered her was when the adults would mutter or complain about “shinobi”, whatever those were, and speak of some war going on somewhere whenever they thought the children couldn’t hear or understand. That probably should have been more concerning, if Momoka really thought about it, but it always sounded so far off elsewhere when she overheard them and as she grew she heard less and less about any war that she just didn’t think about it.

And she wouldn’t think about war again until she was eight years old, just about to turn 9, when a group of strangely dressed people came into her small little village bearing news of “the 3rd Shinobi War”. Oh, so these were the shinobi she had heard of before. She’d seen a few people dressed similarly pass through her small village over the years, but they always passed through quickly and her parents had always kept her from getting too close. They were protectors of their country, and her village regularly did business with the Hidden Village because of how close they were, but they were still dangerous her parents would tell her. Seeing them closer for the first time for herself, and seeing the amount of weaponry each one carried she had to agree.

This group quickly moved on, continuing to an outpost near the border shared with Land of Earth, but they were only the first of many that would pass through as the war progressed. Being so close to Konoha (and doesn’t that just sound familiar? Perhaps it’s just because of growing up practically in its shadow?), Momoka’s village was somehow miraculously safe. Well, relatively safe considering the madness of war sweeping the nations. There were the occasional small groups of Iwa nin that would break through the line to wreak havoc and opportunist bandits that would raid for food and supplies, but Konoha nin were never too far away so damages were minimal. Still, it was a very anxious couple of years for Momoka and she was quite pleased when it was over. She just wasn’t ready to die again yet. And so a new era of peace started with only the occasional concern of desperate bandits remaining.

When Momoka was twelve she was finally able to convince her mother to sit for a haircut. While her skills were a little rusty from disuse for so many years, her mother was genuinely surprised at how “naturally” skilled her daughter was. She started boasting to everyone in the village, to both Momoka’s immense pleasure and embarrassment, claiming her daughter skilled enough to work in the daimyo’s court and take care of the daimyo’s wife’s beauty needs. It wasn’t long before she found herself cutting the hair of almost her entire village, men and women, and she couldn’t be happier. Well, she could if she stopped nicking her knuckles with the damned shears, but such is the life of a hairstylist.

The only thing that seemed to be missing was the severe lack of decent hair care products available in her little village. To fix this, Momoka found herself spending a good amount of her free time with the village healer/apothecary to learn about different herbs of this new place and making herbal remedies so that she could make her own. It was tedious work that took a few years to perfect, but Momoka was happy with the products and being able to sell something she made herself. With the money she made between the products and haircuts she was able to save up enough to buy nice haircutting only shears as well as a straight razor and quality leather strop so she could start offering shaves as well. Her father was the first to cautiously take up the offer of this new service. When she didn’t accidentally cut him the other village men started lining up too, leading to needs for a line of skin care products, which she happily produced.

Before she knew it, Momoka was eighteen. It wasn’t a very noteworthy year for her personally, although her little business was doing well so she wasn’t complaining. She did, however, finally notice that the village boys were taking more notice of her. It had been happening for the last couple years, but she hadn’t been paying attention because, again, business was doing well and she was too busy to “date” and in no rush for marriage regardless of the cultural norms here. Seriously, screw that shit. Let that be another oddity of hers for the villagers to gossip over!

When a few of the boys got a bit too pushy trying to get her attention, Momoka made a decision. She was going to start saving up and move out of this tiny village. She’d go to Konoha. With all of those powerful shinobi there it’s bound to be fairly safe, no risk of bandits at least, and she could probably make a lot more money there. Plus, it’ll get her away from all the “small town gossip” that’s followed her her entire life here, and no more pushy boys! And she’ll do it by the time she turns 25! That will give her enough time to save up properly and get any and all paperwork needed both for her move and restarting her business as soon as possible. Not to mention, it felt appropriate to be starting the next big chapter of her life at the same age as she died in the last one. Auspicious even.

Her resolve to move was tested not long after she had made the decision, however, when word spread from the Hidden Village that Uchiha Itatchi (why can she imagine hearing Izzy say that name before?) had slaughtered his entire clan and fled, reminding Momoka of how dangerous shinobi can be. This started whispers around her village wondering what this might mean for them. With the loss of one of the biggest clans in Konoha, would one of the enemy villages strike and enter the country into another war? Would their village be as safe as it was in the past if it did? When nothing proceeded to happen the murmurings slowly died out again and life continued on as usual. Well, mostly as usual. The boys started getting pushy again, which settled Momoka’s resolve. She’d rather risk it with the potentially murderous nin than ever consider “settling down” with one of these assholes.

The next six years both crawled and flew by between cutting hair, developing her products, and trying to get paperwork and finances in order to move by her self-appointed deadline. It almost looked like she wasn’t going to make it, the moving costs being much higher than she hoped, when the best worst thing that could happen happened. Konoha was attacked again, during the Chuunin Exams, and the Sandime Hokage died. Which was absolutely terrible and terrifying. Fortunately, her little village was ignored by the retreating nin that may have considered passing through and causing damage on their way out. Small favors. The reason why it was one of the best things that could have happened for her came a couple months later when the new Hokage, Senju Tsunade, released some new incentives to the surrounding villages, Momoka’s included, reducing costs just enough for those who wished to move and open businesses in Konoha presumably in a bid to keep the Hidden Village’s economy afloat. And Momoka had already decided long ago she would rather deal with the risks of “ninja shit” than stay stuck in this village.

That October, just 5 months before her twenty-fifth birthday, Momoka found herself standing outside the (somehow familiar) red gates of Konohagakure, her new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please forgive me as I'm trying to figure out some of this formatting stuff, it's been awhile since I've had to use any HTML. Expect Chapter 1 soon! Just gotta run it through some final edits!


	2. Grand Opening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the first official chapter! Hope you enjoy!

Momoka couldn’t believe it! She’s already been in Konoha for a week getting her small studio apartment set up with the bare minimum basics, and she already found a small space for her business too! It had just enough room in it to set up a single shampoo station near the back, a station for services in the middle, and a desk separating the service area from the two chairs and small product shelves she would put in the front. The large storefront windows flood the space with natural light. It even had a small backroom that would be perfect to keep product and additional supplies. It was perfect! She was here! She made it! She twirled with her arms stretched out in the still empty space, giggling her happiness. It was hers! Now she just needed to fill it!

She exited out to the main street and started to make her way to the marketplace in hopes of finding what she would need without having to custom order much of anything. She could make do with what she had back in her tiny village, but that wouldn’t work or fit the image she wanted to have here in Konoha.

Konoha was huge compared to the village she had grown up in. She’s positive that her village wouldn’t have taken up much more than the marketplace itself, and it would still have maybe half as many people compared to the crowd flooding the streets. And that’s with some things still under construction from rebuilding efforts. If she hadn’t lived in a big city in her past life she might have had a panic attack being faced with so many people for the first time in this one. As it was, she nearly did panic the first time a shinobi dropped down from the roofs onto the streets near her. It really was amazing to watch them run across the roofs at such high speeds, but then she reminded herself of the number one rule of living in any big city: don’t stare. It makes you look like a tourist, and tourists are easy targets for those with unsavory intentions. So she tore her eyes away and continued on her way to the shops.

Thinking about what she needed to purchase for the salon she decided to start with the furniture as the service chair was most likely to be the biggest cost out of her remaining budget and might need to be special ordered to fit her needs. Turns out the salon industry wasn’t that big of a market outside of the lords and ladies of the daimyo’s court and wealthier merchants in the capitol city, and virtually non-existent in a ninja village. Turns out shinobi aren’t too fond of people they don’t know touching them while wielding sharp instruments, who knew? And civilians by and large just didn’t have the money to regularly spend on such “luxury” services at the prices those in the capitol charged. So a special chair that meets the needs for salon services will probably be hard to come by.

Momoka sees a furniture store that looks like it has some nice quality chairs on display that might be good and within budget for the waiting area and heads inside to try there first. Without wasting time looking around, she heads directly to the clerk who greets her.

“Good morning,” she greets him back with a polite nod. “I was hoping you would be able to assist me in finding a very specific type of chair. I’m opening a salon down the street, so I need a chair that can recline and has a removable headrest. Preferably one where the height can be adjusted as well. And it has to be easily cleanable as well. Do you have anything like that in stock or that can be ordered?”

Unfortunately for Momoka, they do not. Neither do the next three shops that she tries. She decides to try one more store before she will return home for lunch. She gives her little spiel for the fifth time that morning, desperation starting to tinge the end of it. The clerk gives her an understanding smile.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have anything like that in stock,” Momoka droops a little at her words, “but! We can definitely custom make one for you, if you’re willing to wait a little bit longer for it.”

Momoka straightens right back up, grin splitting her face, “Really!? Oh my gods, yes! Thank you!”

“Why don’t you go ahead and take a look around to see if there’s anything else you need while I run the numbers? It shouldn’t take me too long,” the clerk’s smile widens at her excitement.

She wanders the store as the clerk goes behind the counter and starts pulling up the paperwork for the custom order, filling in the portions of the requirements and pulling out further information on price points of various options to go over when finalizing the order. She finds a couple very simple but sturdy chairs that will be perfect in the waiting area and a small, matching rectangular table that would be perfect to use as desk until she can afford something a little bigger like she had pictured in that space. Off to the side she spies an elegant entryway table that has a low shelf at the bottom, a cupboard on one side, and a drawer under the tabletop. It’s perfect for her service station with just enough space to keep her tools, towels, and drapes, just enough space to keep a couple of her products on hand, and leave the bottom shelf open for clients to set any belongings onto. She also finds a simple permanently reclined chair that will be perfect for at the shampoo bowl. So far so good, on staying under budget. Now she just needs shelves and to see how much this custom chair is going to run her over budget.

The clerk calls her back over, and she points out the additional furniture she will be purchasing that day before they start running through options and numbers together. Momoka decides to splurge a little bit to make sure that the chair will be as comfortable as possible for her future clients. If she cares for it properly it will last her for a few years at least, and having comfortable, happy clients is worth the investment. After everything is said and done, the custom chair alone will cost her 15,000 ryo plus another 5,000 to rush order. With all the other furniture and the delivery fee to have a genin team deliver it all once the chair is ready in two weeks, her total came out to 32,000 ryo. Not bad, all things considered, but her wallet still felt like it was crying.

Next stop was to go hire a contractor who would be able to install a shampoo bowl, some basic cupboards above the shampoo bowl, a large mirror over the service station, and shelving for product. Hopefully they would also have contacts to get those or at least be able to direct her somewhere that sells them, because she doesn’t even know where to start looking. Momoka highly doubts that Konoha has a Home Depot she can just go to and find everything.

Fortunately, despite all the rebuilding going around the village, the Hokage had the forethought to have a couple contractors on reserve for any remodeling work needed by the new businesses she had enticed into joining the village. Even better, they are able to get the items she needs to have installed aside from the mirror, and because she was one of the first to jump on the opportunity and get right into setting everything up there won’t be much of a wait. They will be out in a week when the supplies come in, so everything will be installed before the furniture arrives. And with the new business subsidies provided by the Hokage, she’s back in budget! Momoka leaves feeling so happy she could cry.

As soon as she rejoins the crowd on the main street of the marketplace her stomach lets out a loud grumble to remind her that she forgot to go home for lunch in all of her excitement and it is now mid afternoon. She flushes in embarrassment when a couple shinobi not far from her in the crowd glance her way.

‘Just perfect,’ she thinks bitterly to herself. She had really been hoping to find the mirror before finishing for the day, but apparently her stomach has other ideas so she starts the trek back home. She window shops a little along the way so she has a better idea of where to go when she comes back for the mirror and any of the smaller items she will need.

Entering her small apartment Momoka offers a soft “tadaima” to the empty room, still not fully used to being completely on her own. She shuts and locks the door behind her before turning around to survey the room as she takes off her simple, straw zori and slips on a pair of fluffy house slippers. Just past the entryway to her right is the small kitchen, a door that leads to the bathroom and a clock on the wall between the two. In the center of the main room is an old, low table covered in paperwork from all of her business planning, and to the left is her futon still rolled out so that it can double as a cushion when she sits at the table. The only other furniture is a not even half-filled clothing rack along the back right wall, some boxes still waiting to be unpacked, and a lamp on the ground next to the head of the futon. It’s almost depressing how little there is, there aren’t even curtains on the large window in the middle of the back wall, but it will have to do until the salon opens and she starts making money.

She sets all of the paperwork from the furniture store and contractor at the table before turning to the kitchen where she pulls out leftover rice and vegetables from the refrigerator that she quickly reheats in a pan on the stove. With food in hand she returns to the table to look over the paperwork and plan out what else she needs to do as she eats.

“Let’s see…still need a mirror. Should also get some more product made soon, so I’ll need to stop by an apothecary. Cleaning supplies too, maybe I should ask someone at the hospital where they get theirs? ‘Cause that won’t be weird…” Momoka sighs. “And décor, maybe a few plants to brighten up the place? Which means I’ll need to find a nursery or florist too.”

A glance at the clock shows that it’s later than Momoka realized, so she gets up to clean her dishes before settling in to make a list of what she still needs to go out and get tomorrow. She has two weeks until the salon will be ready to open, which feels like an eternity away and too soon all at once. Momoka sighs again.

‘No, that’s still not quite right,’ Momoka thinks as she shifts the large potted lance-leaf sundew she’d somehow managed to find three inches to the right on the table separating the service and waiting areas of the salon. The furniture had all arrived the day before so today she was adding in the final touches before opening the next day. The shelves were filled with the products she had spent the last two weeks creating, more still in a box in the backroom. A tall snake plant sat next to the door besides the chairs opposite the product shelves and closer to the table Momoka is currently fussing over, placing a yellow orchid slightly behind and to the side of the sundew. There is a spider plant on the opposite side and a couple of currently empty large, lidded glass carafes and several matching glasses between the plants. It cost a bit more than she would have liked, but she wanted to be able to provide the options of water or iced tea to clients as they waited. Really give that luxury feeling to keep them coming back for more. She also had some decent sake in the back to offer instead too, but felt that was best to keep monitored and not out for grabs. Drunk clients are the worst.

Finally happy with the placement of the various plants, Momoka takes another look around the salon to see if anything else needs touched up. The large mirror in a simple wooden frame hangs over the service station; another yellow orchid sits daintily next to some styling products at one end the station. At the other corner sits her hair dryer in a decorative stand and a jar filled with a blue solution of hospital grade sanitizer. It really took some talking to convince the nurses at the hospital that she was serious about needing it for a _hair salon_ of all places, but once Momoka got into her rant about the importance of cleanliness in a salon and the possible diseases and infections that could be passed from one client to the next, she’s pretty sure that they were shocked by her knowledge (she didn’t go to beauty school for two fucking years for nothing, ya know!) and thankful she was taking it upon herself to use such precautions. That, and she’s probably on some government list now. Fucking. Perfect.

Next to the jar is a decorative box that holds her shears and straight razor, ready and waiting to be used. Inside the drawer below is a basket full of combs, another basket of hair clips, a paddle brush, and a few round brushes in various sizes. The cupboard holds some clean hand towels and the simple, white linens she bought to use as drapes on the top shelf, and a spray sanitizer, some wash clothes for cleaning, and a small lockable cash box are on the bottom shelf. Next to the cupboard taking up half of the “client shelf” is the towel warmer her father had gotten her for her birthday two years ago. How he found it, she’ll never know, but thank the gods she didn’t have to try hunting one of those down too.

A wicker laundry basket lined with a cloth bag sat between the service and shampoo stations ready and waiting. Fortunately for her there were stairs out back that lead to the roof where she was told she could do laundry for the salon, so Momoka didn’t have to worry about carrying it all too and from her apartment and hoping she had enough room in the tiny studio to let it all air dry every day. Small mercies.

The shampoo station was also fully stocked with towels on one shelf and more products for use on the other inside the cupboards; her homemade shampoo and conditioner ready and waiting on the backbar of the sink. The opposite wall from both stations held a simple clock and some likely mass produced traditional prints featuring koi fish and blossoming trees in more simple wooden frames. Not exactly Momoka’s tastes, but it was better than having a blank wall and they fit with the overall theme well. And they were cheap.

Momoka nods after one last glance around confirms there is nothing left to do here today, and locks up behind herself with a sigh to go put in the request for a genin team to come out first thing in the morning to hang up the “grand opening” banner. Tedious fucking government forms, but necessary tedious fucking government forms. Like hell she’s getting up on a ladder and struggling with that monstrosity of a sign alone.

It’s still early afternoon when she leaves the missions request office. Mentally tallying where her budget is now, she decides to treat herself to some dango and tea on her way back to the market to find some new clothes to wear while working.

She finds exactly what she’s looking for several stores later in a shop that caters to those with a little more _traditional_ tastes. Here she finds several simple yet elegant yukata, but with a slightly more modern twist with slightly flared half-sleeves ending at the elbow where they won’t get in her way. A soft purple, white, and gold floral wisteria kanzashi hair clip catches her eye, it will be perfect to clip her hair back out of her face while she works so Momoka adds it to her growing collection. She also buys several pairs of tabi, because hair splinters in feet and between the toes are a bitch and a half, and a nice pair of solid, high geta figuring that the three inches of added height will only be helpful when it comes to some of the taller clients. She knows she’s not short at 5’5” but she’s already seen several men here that are easily 6’ tall, and she’d rather be prepared. The chair can raise up fairly high, but it can only go so low.

A little more wandering around the marketplace finds her a few more simpler silk flower kanzashi clips for variety, but not much else and she returns home for the evening. Tomorrow’s the big day!

Momoka is running through her final checklist, triple checking that everything is ready to open inside as a jounin sensei supervises his genin hanging the grand opening sign outside. First drape ready and waiting folded on the chair, check. Towels in the warmer, check. Carafes filled with water and tea, check and check. All tools and supplies in place, check, check, and check. She thanks the team profusely when they are done, welcoming them to come back for a haircut anytime “with a ‘shinobi discount’ of course!”

She gives herself a last once over in the mirror admiring how the black kohl and lavender eye shadow accent her eyes and match the wisteria kanzashi clip and lilac yukata she chose for today. She doesn’t wear makeup much, but for work it’s practically a necessity. If there’s one thing she learned working in the beauty industry in her last life it’s that people, men and women, will pay more when you look “pretty” and wear makeup than when you don’t or wear it too extremely in one way or another. Momoka rolls her eyes and pulls on the clean, black, waxed canvas apron she bought a year ago from one of the workers back home. Doing her best not to stumble, she moves the bulky A-frame sidewalk sign out in front of her store. Flyers are flown and notices posted, all she can do now is hope someone comes in soon.

Shizukesa Salon is officially open!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shizukesa translates as "Tranquility" which felt like a decent salon name.
> 
> I debated a lot about the amount of detail I went into writing this, but I wanted to paint a clear picture of the space that I have in my mind so I went with it. It was undoubtedly influenced by my own personal experiences in the hair industry myself. There's a lot that goes into it, especially when you're starting fresh on your own. And that's here in a world where things are relatively easy to find and readily available.


	3. Everyone Likes a Spa Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am honestly amazed and so thankful for the response I've gotten to this story so far. I expected to be at least a few more chapters in before I got this much. Thank you so so much!

Shizukesa has been open two weeks now, and Momoka was in shock. Apparently word traveled faster in a shinobi village than even her old tiny village despite the size difference, even amongst the civilian population. The first day was almost completely dead with only a few curious patrons coming in to look at product and asking about prices before a slightly more well-to-do looking civilian woman finally sat in her chair. She must have been very impressed with Momoka’s work, because the next day the number of people coming in tripled. By the end of the week Momoka found herself already needing the appointment book she had purchased “just in case” scheduling appointments over the next week. Her days weren’t fully packed yet, but business was definitely picking up.

And it wasn’t just civilians coming in either! She was getting in a few shinobi too. Mainly kunoichi, and all from civilian backgrounds, but still! It was definitely more than she expected so quickly. Guess that Shinobi Discount was a good idea after all.

Perhaps then she shouldn’t have been as surprised as she was when during a time when no appointments were scheduled a large figure came through her door. A pleasantly polite “Welcome to Shizukesa” falling from her lips before she really looked at the man standing before her. Even with her high geta on he towered over her, without them she was sure he had to be at least a foot taller. And he wasn’t just tall either; he had broad shoulders and was clearly well built underneath the grey uniform and black trench coat he wore, his hitai-ate as a bandana over his head. All of that combined with the long scars running down his face gave him an aura that very clearly screamed “I can kill you ten different ways in half as many seconds, so don’t touch.”

‘Holy shit…that’s…’ A memory of an animated version of the man before her on a television screen, Izzy sitting beside her as they watched, chatting and eating snacks.

_“Yes! Ibiki appears!” Izzy crows in delight._

_“Who?” she asks amused by her friend’s excitement._

_“Ibiki!!! He’s one of my fave’s! Total badass, but you know underneath all of that leather he’s gotta be a complete teddy bear! Oh! Oh! And he’s head of T &I too!”_

_She arches an eyebrow and giggles at their excitement, “T &I?”_

_“ Torture and Interrogation!” Izzy responds with dual finger guns and a wink._

_She snorts, “Yeah, he sounds totally cuddly like a teddy bear.”_

‘No…there’s no way. That’s impossible!’ Momoka thinks as the memory fades away. ‘Completely impossible. He just looks a lot like that character, that’s it.’ She really hoped her shock didn’t come across on her face, wouldn’t do to accidentally insult a potential client. Momoka was too preoccupied in the memory to really notice his sharp black eyes examining her intently. Realizing that she was still staring from her panic, Momoka snapped herself out of it before she really did insult the dangerous looking man in front of her.

“Good afternoon, shinobi-san. My name is Imai Momoka, how may I be of service to you?” Hopefully her best customer service smile covered any remaining anxiety.

“Morino Ibiki. I hear you provide shaving services.”

‘Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! Fuck me sideways with a rusty chainsaw!’

“Yes, of course, Morino-san. Face shaving services start at 500 ryo, and head shaves at 350 ryo. That is, of course, before the Shinobi Discount which is 10% off total services. I have an opening now, if you would like it, or I could schedule you in for an appointment at a better time for you?” She rattled off absentmindedly, full Customer Service Mode engaged as she internally screamed nonsensically trying to grasp what her life had become.

“A head shave, please, and now would be good, Imai-san.”

‘Oh gods, oh fuck, this can’t be happening, why is this happening???’

“Excellent,” she says automatically. “If you could please take of your coat, Morino-san, and your hitai-ate. There is space on the shelf under my station where you can put them. And please have a seat.”

She pulls out a clean drape and towel from the cupboard, nervously watching him stash his coat and take a seat as he takes off his hitai-ate, revealing his scarred scalp. The sight makes her brain stall out, ceasing all thoughts and internal crisis monologuing, “Holy shit, someone really ran you through the ringer, didn’t they?”

Momoka freezes, ‘Oh fuck. That was me. Those words just came out of my mouth. I do NOT want to die again. Not today!’

“I mean —shit— gods! I am so sorry, Morino-san, I shouldn’t have said that!” Her face feels like it is on fire.

A dark sounding chuckle comes from the shinobi seated before her as he smirks.

‘And this is how I die. My big mouth is finally what gets me killed. Accidentally offending the head of fucking T&I.’

“It’s okay, Imai-san. I can imagine it’s very shocking for a civilian. It’s fairly shocking to most shinobi too.”

‘Or not. Holy fuck, maybe Izzy was right and he is a teddy bear underneath it all,’ she thinks relaxing and focusing in on the service before her beginning to more closely examine his scalp and the hair growing in at his sideburns and on the back of his head and nape. There’s not a lot there, so she feels a little guilty charging full price for a head shave, especially after the way her mouth got away from her. Looking at the scars again an idea pops into her head, but first thing’s first, she re-enters “business mode”.

“Ok, Morino-san, I’m going to start by wrapping this towel around your neck to help protect your clothing and keep any hair, product, or water from going down the back of your neck. Let me know if it’s uncomfortable in any way.” She learned early on that it’s best to explain in detail what she was doing and why to any shinobi clients as they could be very jumpy and had itchy kunai fingers, and she never wanted to be that close to the sharp end of a kunai again, thank you. “Now I’m going to do the same with this drape to protect the rest of your clothing and clip it in place. All good?”

At Ibiki’s nod she smiles, “Perfect, now let me get the hot towel ready.” She pulls one out of the warmer under the station and unrolls it to air it out before testing it on her inner wrists and shaking it when it’s still too hot. “Now, before I continue, do you have any skin sensitivities or allergies that I should be aware of?”

She tests the towel again as he responds, “No, nothing I can think of.”

“Great! Now I’m going to put this towel on your head, it will help soften the hair and open up the pores of your skin for the treatment. Let me know right away if it’s too hot,” she smiles again before wrapping the still hot but no longer burning damp towel around his head like a turban. Her customer service smile becomes a little more real as she sees his shoulders relax minutely. ‘Shinobi are always so tense, it can’t be good for their health.’

“That needs to sit for a few minutes, so I’m going to go grab the products I need for your service. Be right back!”

Momoka walks over to the cupboards above the shampoo bowl and pull out a couple small tubs of product, two small bottles with dripper style tops, a mug, a lather brush, and a couple small plastic scoops. She brings them back and set them down on top of her station keeping one tub in her hands, unscrewing the lid and offering it to him for inspection.

“This is the shaving cream that I will be using on you today. All of my products I have made myself using ingredients from the local apothecary, which are listed on the side.” He reads through the list as she explains the basic purpose of the each ingredient and hands it back, only to be handed each product and have it explained in turn, a cleanser, toner, and moisturizer. With that she places a clean dry towel across the station and one draped over his shoulder towards the back of the chair to clean the razor with in preparation, and informs him that she is going to get her razor ready now.

‘Gods I miss my disposable blade straight razor,’ she mourns like always as she strops the razor with practiced ease before setting it gently on her station to prepare the lather. That done she removes the cooled towel from his head, placing it neatly on top of the dry towel on the station. Momoka then uses the dropper to place some of the cleanser into her hands, rubbing them together for a moment before placing the product from her hands onto the top, sides, and back of his head, methodically but gently massaging it in.

“Let me know if at any time it becomes too much.” He lets out a grunt of understanding as he begins to unconsciously relax under her hands. Another hot towel comes out again to wrap his head once more and remove any remaining product before she begins to swirl a thin layer of lather over the areas to be shaved and pulling out another hot towel, re-wrapping his head. After a couple minutes she removes the towel, wiping off the first lather, and reapplying a thicker layer of lather.

She keeps one hand on his scalp, gently pulling the skin taut as she starts shaving precise sections of stubble starting at the back of his head and wiping the blade off on the towel draped over his shoulder, moving slowly but confidently and making sure he is aware of what she is doing, before moving to the sides and around his ears. Once done she removes the towel from his shoulder, using it one last time to thoroughly remove any remaining lather from the razor before setting it neatly with the damp towels on her station and submerging the razor into the jar of blue liquid.

Another hot towel shortly follows as she gently but firmly removes any excess lather, and then she is gently patting the toner over his skin. Finally she scoops the moisturizer from its tub, spreading and warming it between her hands before placing it onto his skin and beginning to massage his scalp. No longer having to focus so closely, Momoka enters that Zen, autopilot mode that comes with many years performing any type of repetitive action, and disappears into her thoughts.

‘Ok, I have apparently been reborn into the world of Naruto. How that is even possible, I don’t know. But then maybe it’s not and this is all just some weird coma dream? Is it possible to go into a coma after being electrocuted? Was pretty sure that just fuckin’ killed ya if it did anything at all. Or maybe I was reborn here as some type of prank by one of the Tricksters? The ravens? Iktomi? Loki? Yeah, this really does seem like some Loki type shit, honestly. Fuck, why didn’t I pay more attention when watching this with Izzy? Why did I think it would be a good idea to move here of all places? Safer? With all the shit that happens here? Ha! Or wait…maybe it’s already happened and it’s safe now? Fuck! I wish I could remember the plot better so I could know for sure! Well, either way it’s probably better I don’t really know anything. Would hate to be noticed by the wrong person here and wind up in a gods-be-damned interrogation cell. Speaking of which…’

“If you’re ready, Morino-san, I’m going to un-drape you now,” she says ending the massage, voice betraying nothing of her panicked thoughts.

“Yes, Imai-san. Thank you.”

She un-drapes him and gathers the towels from her station, tossing them into the laundry basket, returning to gather the products, brush and mug and walk back over to the shampoo station to put product away and give things a quick rinse out. When she turns back around Ibiki already has his coat and hitai-ate back on and is watching her with almost the same stoic look he came in with.

He clears his throat, “So how much do I owe you?”

“Just 315 ryo, Morino-san,” she says happy that he seems at least a little more relaxed than when he came in. ‘And this is why I love my job.’

His eyebrow raises incredulously, “That’s all?”

“Well, I may have given you a bit of an upgrade to a luxury shave, since I just didn’t feel right charging you full price for less than half the work, and then with the discount…yeah, 315,” she says a little nervously. ‘Please don’t be suspicious, I really don’t wanna be put in a cell!’

She watches him leave his payment on a clean section of her station and quickly walk out “Ah! Please come again!”

A few days later a genin messenger comes in with a note requesting she book Ibiki for weekly services on the same day and time of his pervious visit. She smiles as she marks it down in her appointment book and fills out an appointment card as confirmation for the genin to return to Ibiki with. She can hardly believe that the surly looking giant of a ninja is her first regular client, but it makes her so happy and all thoughts of him potentially finding her suspicious disappear.

Coincidently, Momoka notices a sudden increase in shinobi, male and female, coming to her salon almost a week after Ibiki’s visit.

Somewhere else in Konoha, Team Gai was running through yet another of Gai-sensei’s ridiculous obstacle courses like a demon was chasing them. Which was kind of true, when one considered the manic state of their sensei as he attacked them from behind whenever he “caught up” to them. Maito Gai seemed to take Naruto’s departure earlier that week far a “training journey” as a Challenge(tm) to up their training as well.

The barely audible swish of spandex against spandex and the glint of the sun off kunai out of the corner of her eye is the only warning Tenten receives as she dodges, the blade whistling past her ear, and returns the attack with one of her own. She internally curses her luck that Gai-sensei caught her alone, and she was so close to the finish line too. They had been out here for days. She was tired, hungry, and covered in dirt. She was so treating herself to a nice long soak in the public baths when this was done.

She wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but one moment she was on guard trying to figure out where Konoha’s Green Beast was going to attack from next, then there was a whoosh of air and she found herself face down with a mouthful of dirt. A second later the pain blooming across her back registered, informing her that she had taken a solid kick from her sensei that sent her flying to the ground high speed. By the feel of things, he was holding back quite a bit. Small mercies.

“Tenten! Do not allow exhaustion to blind you from your surroundings! Let the Fires of Youth burn through you and keep you focused!”

Before Gai-sensei could approach any closer, a smaller green blur in the shape of Rock Lee shot out of the trees directly into his path. As the two trade blows and declarations of Youth, Neji drops down beside her. He’s noticeably cleaner than she is, but the barely there pinched look on his face tells her he’s just as exhausted and done with this as she is.

A quick glance at Lee shows the opposite. He’s covered in the most dirt of them all, patches of green barely visible through the caked on mud. Despite that he was practically vibrating with energy, fire dancing within his eyes as he faced off against his sensei. Well, at least Lee was having fun.

“Come,” is all Neji says as he helps lift her from the ground, wrapping one of her arms around his shoulders, and taking off towards the obstacle course and away from the Sounds of Youth.

An hour later Tenten was finally soaking in the public baths. It felt so good to be clean again, and the hot water was draining the soreness from her muscles. She sighed contentedly enjoying the nearly empty bath, only two older civilian women chatting quietly between themselves as company.

‘Peace and quiet. This must be what heaven feels like. So~ relaxing.’ She sighs again, dejectedly this time, ‘If only there were a way to get Gai-sensei to relax a bit, then training might not be so…intense for once.’

“…Sugimoto-san swears it was him, and he’s not exactly someone to mistake.” The voices of the civilian women floated through the steam to her, making the girl frown slightly at the gossips interrupting her peace.

“But still, to claim that someone like Morino-san of all people…”

“Aa, the Salon must truly be named right if even he left in such a relaxed state.” Tenten perked up a bit at the word she had just been thinking about.

“I’ve heard that Imai girl has great skill, but even then this is hard to believe.”

“And yet it must be true. Do you remember the Takahashi boy?”

“The one who became a genin a few years back?”

“That’s the one. Well his mother just told me that the boy ran a missive to Shizukesa for Morino-san to set up a standing weekly appointment with her.”

“Weekly! No!”

“Yes! Such extravagance! It makes one wonder just what…” Tenten tuned out the rest of the women’s gossip as she thought on what she had overheard.

‘Relaxed, huh? Sounds like this “salon” is just what sensei needs.’ A devious smile spreads across Tenten’s face. ‘A new hairstyle wouldn’t hurt him either.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote the Ibiki scene a few months ago and afterwards immediately messaged my cousin (at 3am -1am her time-) "omg, I think I just wrote barber porn"...so, I hope you enjoyed that! Especially since about a week ago I realized I wrote from the wrong perspective (Ibiki's) and had to go through and heavily edit the whole thing as I want the main story line of this part to be from Momoka's perspective as much as possible. That said, I couldn't bring myself to get rid of Ibiki's perspective altogether either, so please look forward to it as the first addition to Red Solo Cup, where I will be stashing all alternate perspectives, AUs, and Omakes for the NARF series!
> 
> P.S. you have no idea how much I wish I had planned that acronym for this series, but I only realized I had done that yesterday myself ^__^;


	4. Denial, Not Just a River in Egypt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a little longer to come out than planned...it's been a crazy week.

As her days in the salon got busier, Momoka found herself with less time to think about anything other than anything that was immediately in front of her. She would wake early to grab a quick but filling breakfast, work in the salon for twelve hours each day, grab snacks and lunch whenever she could between clients, and then clean up so she could go home for dinner and crash. It was exhausting to work such long hours, but it meant that she could afford to take a day off each week.

‘Maybe I’ll even be able to take two days off if things keep picking up enough,’ she sighs to herself. ‘That would be nice. Oh, well, let’s enjoy the one that we’ve got while we have it.’

She rolled out of bed at her usual time and slumped her way to the kitchen to make breakfast and plan her day. She didn’t really have a whole lot that she needed to do, maybe a small grocery run, but nothing that would take too long. Maybe she should go sightseeing? Sitting at her table with her food thought back to meeting Ibiki earlier in the week.

‘That’s right. I’m in Naruto, aren’t I? There’s gotta be something to see here that will remind me. Gods damn it, if only Izzy was here, they would know what to do or where to go. They were the one that was all into this anime! So why me? Why the fuck am I here? Unless…what if I’m wrong? This might not be wherever the hell Naruto took place. I mean that makes more sense, right? But that memory…’

Momoka tries to recall the details that flashed so clearly in her mind before, but it seems fuzzy now. ‘Maybe he just reminded me of that character because I’ve been missing Izzy so much since I started working? The name could be a total coincidence! Or, wait, have I heard his name before? People like to talk a lot around here, so I probably overheard someone talking about him and my brain just twisted it into the memory with Izzy. That’s gotta be it!’

Resolved, she nods to herself and goes to wash her dishes in the sink. Today she will figure this out once and for all. She might not know much about Naruto, but there’s got to be something that will trigger another memory from what she did watch with Izzy if she really did reincarnate there. And if nothing happens, then it was all just a coincidence. A really crazy, random coincidence. ‘Gods, let it be a coincidence.’

Momoka sat with a huff on a bench outside the dango stand and began absentmindedly nibbling at her recently purchased snack. After spending all morning and a good part of the afternoon wandering around Konoha seeing what little there was to see trying to remember anything, she was at a loss. She had started at the Naka Shrine, which was pretty but ultimately gave her nothing. The hospital was a hospital. The Hokage Tower was swarming with shinobi, and it just didn’t seem like the brightest idea to stick around staring at the place. ‘Again, we’re trying to never see the insides of T&I.’

She had heard about some type of Memorial Stone, but that seemed to be some hidden away, shinobi landmark that was a little too close to training fields for civilian comfort. The only other thing that she could think of that might trigger something was what she was staring at in the distance right now. The Hokage Monument.

Sure she had seen it before, several times in fact, ‘Kinda hard to miss a bunch of giant fucking heads staring down at everyone,’ but she had been too busy and focused on getting set up and getting her salon going to really look at it. So here she was. Looking at it.

It did feel vaguely familiar, but then ‘wasn’t there a place like this where I was from Before? Maybe that’s why?’ She sighed again, feeling completely lost.

“Imai-san?” an older woman’s voice pulled her from her thoughts and she looked at the person standing in front of her. It was the civilian woman who was her very first client in Konoha.

“Ah! Suzuki-san!” Her customer service smile flies onto her face, “How lovely to see you today! I hope you are well?”

“I am well, thank you. But, if it’s not too presumptuous of me to say, it does not sound as if you are doing so well yourself?” A hint of questioning concern tints the other woman’s words. Momoka flushes slightly at being called out on her sighing, ‘gods know what the gossiping old bat could twist that into given the chance.’

“No, no. I’m well. I just thought that I’d take my day off today to play tourist and see what there is around the Village, since it’s so much larger than where I came from, but…”

The woman chuckles gregariously, “But there’s not really much to sightsee in a Shinobi village, is there?”

“Ha, no there really isn’t. Though I suppose I should have realized that before I got my hopes up.”

“Perhaps. Although, based on your expression, can I assume that you have yet to see the Shodaime’s Garden?” a knowing glint enters the woman’s eyes.

“The Shodaime’s Garden?” Momoka repeats back slowly. ‘What the…?’

A triumphant grin splits Suzuki-san’s face, “Yes, the Shodaime’s Garden! It’s a little known gem around here. Shinobi have no appreciation for it, but my family has been funding its care and cultivation for decades now. A beautiful piece of history and romance! I knew no fine young lady such as yourself could have seen it and still looked so downtrodden!”

Momoka barely holds back a snort at being labeled a “fine young lady” and gets directions to this “miraculous” garden. She doubts she’ll get anything from it, in fact she’s pretty sure after hitting the obvious spots that there’s nothing to get, but it’s worth a shot.

She arrived at the garden shortly, and it was no wonder she had never noticed it before. It was tucked back near what was the old Senju compound and just as walled in and gated as any of the other major clan compounds. It almost felt like trespassing despite the sign indicating that visitors were welcome. Momoka had barely stepped foot inside before she was approached by a severe looking woman that looked like she would fit in more in a library than a garden.

“Good afternoon, Ojou-san, and welcome to the Shodaime’s Garden. My name is Takada Midoriko. Is there anything I can help you with?” the woman spoke with a tone that was just as formal and strict as she looked.

“Pleased to meet you, I’m Imai Momoka. I’m new to the village, and Suzuki-san insisted that I come see the gardens here.”

“Ah, yes, Imai-san. Suzuki-sama mentioned you before. You own the new salon that everyone is talking about.”

“That would be me, yes. Today is my day off, so I was hoping to see all the beauty Konoha has to offer!” She was getting so sick of having to use her customer service voice in her free time, but needs be must.

“Then you have certainly come to the right place,” Takada smiles slightly, which was more than Momoka thought the woman was capable of. “How would you like a tour?”

“Yes, please,” she smiles back.

Thus began the longest, most boring tour Momoka had ever been on in either life to her memory. ‘And if there was worse, please, by all the gods, let me never fucking remember it.’

According to Takada-san, the Shodaime Hokage developed the gardens over several years, in a continuous show of love and devotion to his wife. This could have been a romantic and moving tale, if only it weren’t delivered in the driest way possible. At one point in the tour a flash of pink and blonde moved into Momoka’s peripheral, but as she went to look Takada-san brought her attention back to the various, meticulously cultivated trees, flowers and shrubbery that honestly were so mish mashed and randomly placed that a toddler probably could have planned out better. But who was Momoka to question the obvious genius and profound symbolism of the God of Shinobi in his adoration of his wife?

It was killing her not to roll her eyes. Literally, killing her.

By the time Momoka finally made it back home and made herself dinner, she was quite convinced that it was all just a coincidence after all. ‘I mean, c’mon, really? Reincarnated into Naruto? That’s just fucking ridiculous. What the hell was I even thinking? Panicking over nothing.’

That night Momoka went to bed early, content with her beliefs that all was right again, and no potentially looming dangers of a “fictional” world were hanging over her head. She had another long day at the salon tomorrow, and after spending most of the day walking around Konoha she easily fell into a blissful sleep.

Finished with the final touches before opening, Momoka hummed to herself as she unlocked the salon door and flipped the sign from “closed” to “open”. She had just turned around and walked a few steps to go get the A-frame to put out when she heard a commotion outside that seemed to be growing closer. A shiver went down her spine as an ominous feeling washed over her.

‘Nope, no. We’re not doing this. We slept well, we had a good breakfast, and we’re going to have a fucking good day too. If some shinobi wanna start shit and be loud at 8am, then that’s fine. It has nothing to do with me.’

“—ut Ten—why?! I am--!” The yelling outside is now close enough for some words to be made out.

“NO! This is—sei! You nee—ax! Right, L--?” The words are becoming clearer now as the voices get ever closer.

“YOSH! This wi—cellent endeavor of Youth--!” Momoka stiffens, frozen to the spot with her back to the door that the voices are almost outside of now.

‘Please, dear gods, tell me this is not my first appointment of the day. Please…’

“—ji! Get the door.”

‘Please no…’

“My preci—nts! This is unne—sary!” The salon door opens and Momoka feels more than hears as four people fall into the entryway of her salon.

“It’s completely necessary, Gai-sensei! It’s the new year and your birthday coming up! What better way to celebrate than a nice relaxing trip to the salon and a new look!” The girl sounds like this is not the first time she’s made this argument.

‘Nononononononononononononono…..’ Momoka feels the peace she had gathered since yesterday start to crack. She turns slowly, like a heroine in a horror movie turning to face the monster she senses behind her. Her eyes fall on the pile of still struggling shinobi, ‘So much _green,_ ’ and it shatters.

_“Come on, please! I’ve been dying to watch this episode with you!” Izzy pleads, their puppy eyes in full effect._

_“Fine, fine. We’ll watch more of your Naruto tonight. Now put the eyes away before you hurt someone.”_

_“Yes! Another win for the puppy eyes!” Izzy does a happy dance, spilling snacks onto the floor._

_“Ha ha, you know my weakness,” she deadpans. “What’s so important that I have to watch this specific episode with you anyways?”_

_“Dude! Team Gai is gonna battle off against Kisame!” like it was obvious._

_“Okay…and Team Gai? Kisame? Who?”_

_Izzy rolls their eyes, “You’ll see. Plus, really I just need another stylist to talk about Maito Gai with.”_

_“There’s seriously a character named ‘Maito Gai’?” she couldn’t have held in the snort of laughter even if it would have saved her life._

_“I know, right! C’mon, let’s watch it! You have to see!” And see she did. They kept up a running commentary for the full episode of all the ways they could cut Gai’s hair if he were real and rid the world of that terrible bowl cut._

‘Oh gods, Izzy, he’s real. He’s real and in front of me. He’s real and in front of me and I’m in Naruto. Oh gods. Oh, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck—‘

As if sensing her impending mental break down, ‘two in one week, go me,’ Gai quickly separated himself from the pile and materialized instantly before Momoka, dropping into a deep bow as his students righted themselves behind him. “Fair flower of Konoha! I deeply apologize for my and my students’ atrocious behavior! We have upset you! As punishment I will now run 1,000 laps around the village on my hands! And if I cannot do that then I will do 1,000—“

Still dazed and not wanting to believe her eyes, Momoka reaches out and places her hand on Gai’s shoulder, ‘yep, he’s real,’ causing him to stop mid rant. “It, it’s okay. I was just a little startled.”

Gai immediately straightens up, somehow not dislodging her hand from his shoulder. “You are truly most generous, beautiful flower!” he finishes his statement with a thumbs up and wide, sparkling smile.

‘Wow…his teeth are so white…how…?’ Her eyes widen as she comes back to herself and quickly pulls back her hand, turning on Customer Service mode for the sake of what remained of her sanity. “Right. Well then. My name is Imai Momoka, and welcome to Shizukesa Salon. How may I assist you this morning?”

At the reminder of where they were and why they were there, Gai wilted dramatically, but a brightly smiling Tenten popped up from behind him, “Hi! We should have a reservation for your first appointment today; Neji sent someone to book the appointment for us a few days ago. Sorry for all the confusion, we wanted to surprise Gai-sensei for his upcoming birthday!”

Momoka can vaguely remember booking the appointment while she had been half distracted with a client in her chair, another client waiting, and a few more buying products. She hadn’t caught the name of whom the service would before, so she just wrote down “surprise” instead, ‘Well, the surprise is on me.’

“Yes. Yes, of course. Give me just one moment while I put out my sign, and I will be right with you,” she points to the sign leaned against the wall.

This time it is Gai’s mini-me, Rock Lee, that pops up from behind him, “Ah! We interrupted you before you finished opening! As my apology, please allow me to take care of the sign for you!”

He is already out the door and setting up the sign, bouncing around it and shifting it slightly here and there to get it in the “perfect” place, before she can respond. “A-alright then. Maito-san, please follow me. If you could put your vest there under the station and have a seat.”

Tenten follows the two back to the station, ‘like the hovering mother of a reluctant toddler,’ and Momoka tries to collect herself from the absurdity this morning has turned into. Once Gai is sitting stiffly in her chair she begins, “So! What service were you hoping to receive today?”

“A haircut!” Tenten quickly cuts in, preventing any attempts by Gai to get out of this situation. “Like a total makeover for his birthday! New year, new you and all of that!”

“Right. We can do that. Why don’t the rest of you come back in about forty-five minutes to an hour to collect your sensei,” it’s clearly not a question despite how it’s phrased and sounds polite, even paired with the comforting smile she gives them.

“Will it really take that long?”

“Usually it wouldn’t, but I like to take my time with first time appointments,” ‘especially when they look ready to bolt at any moment’ “and since it’s Maito-san’s birthday coming up, I figured I’d add in a complimentary extra scalp massage to the shampoo as an early gift from me.”

“Oh. Sounds good then. We’ll see you then, Gai-sensei.” Tenten smiles and turns to leave with Neji, who nods politely as they depart, snatching Lee away from the sign as they disappear onto the street once more.

“Okay, Maito-san—“

“Gai. Please call me Gai, Imai-san” he smiles at her in the mirror, nervousness tingeing the edges of it. She smiles back, ‘He looks kinda like a nervous puppy right now. Cute.’

“Gai-san then, but only if you call me Momoka,” she winks conspiratorially. “I’m going to drape you now, then comb and analyze your hair so that I can see what we’re working with. Meanwhile, I want you to tell me about what you actually want.” Gai gives her a startled look, so she continues as she drapes him, “I do want you happy with the end result too. You’re the one that has to live with it. If you tell me what it is you want, or at least why you were so reluctant to get a haircut, maybe we can come up with some sort of compromise that everyone can be happy with?”

Gai’s eyes well up with tears, “You are so kind and compassionate, Momoka-san! A true example of Youthfulness and beauty!”

‘Oh shit,’ she turns to her station quickly to hide her blush and pull out a fresh comb. ‘Why is that adorable? It really shouldn’t be.’

She returns to behind the chair and starts combing through his hair, checking how it had been cut before as Gai collects himself, ‘It really is more out grown Bruce Lee than 70’s Pageboy like the animation made it look. Maybe the artist was just lazy about it? And his hair is so soft and healthy, thank the gods! A man who knows what conditioner is and doesn’t think soap and shampoo are the same thing! I can so work with this. Now, let’s get him talking so we can start.’

She meets his eyes in the mirror once more and sees that he is more relaxed and confidant than before, but still a little stiff, “You take such good care of your hair, Gai-san. It’s so healthy! Tell me, when was the last time you had your hair cut?”

He glows at the compliment, “It has been two or three months. Genma, my Youthful friend, has been cutting it since we were chuunin!”

“Sounds like a great friend,” she replies with a smile. “Have you always had it cut in the same style, or have you ever thought about changing it?” ‘Please say you’re ok with changing it…’

A bit of Gai’s earlier anxiety returns to his frame and he stiffens, “Ah…that is…my father…but…” he suddenly sighs and droops, “perhaps my most precious students are correct and it is time for a change?”

‘Shit…emotional ties to the haircut…this is going to be a tough change…unless…’ Momoka tilts her head to the side while looking at Gai in the mirror. She nods her head to herself, settling on her game plan, and walks around to look at him face to face. “Alright, I know what we’re going to do now. But! I want to keep it a surprise until we’re done, which means I will be cutting your hair with your back to the mirror. Will you trust me with this?”

“Such Youthful confidence!” a bit of sparkle returns to Gai’s eyes. “Yes! I will trust you, Momoka-san!”

“Perfect! Now let’s head on back and wash out your hair so we can get started! I’m sure you will feel quite ‘youthful’ by the time we are done,” she laughs a little as she leads him to the back. ‘Well, Izzy, it looks like I’ll get to fulfill one of your dreams of giving _The_ Maito Gai a haircut. I hope I do you proud.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed that! And yes, I left it on a bit of a cliffhanger and y'all have to wait to "see" Gai's haircut. Evil, I know.
> 
> I also just wanted to clarify a few things about Momoka's memories and such that may not have been made clear enough in previous chapters (although I hope this chapter helped too).
> 
> First, Momoka doesn't have her complete memories from her past life. Mostly, she just remembers the "big/important" things, like her close friends, family, school, and work. Things that are tied to strong emotions, basically.
> 
> Second, she was not a Naruto fan and really only watched some hear and there with her best friend Izzy (the real Naruto fan). The things she remembers about Naruto are more because of the tie (strong emotion) to Izzy than from actually having seen any of Naruto before. Ibiki, despite not being a major character is one of Izzy's favorites, so Momoka knows him. Gai (and by consequence his team) really stands out based on his look, especially to hairstylists/barbers. And yes, those of us in the field that are fans really do discuss how we would change his hair if given the chance, so again there is the Izzy connection. Future flashes of remembered plot (what little there is) will also always have an emotional tie of some sort to Izzy.
> 
> Third, and possibly the most important to keep in mind, she has been reliving this life from infancy for the last 24 going on 25 years. She has "grown up" hearing certain names (like Konoha or Uchiha Itachi as mentioned in previous chapters) in this new life enough that if anything "sounds familiar" it can be brushed off as something she heard growing up, which would be more logical. She also doesn't have an eidectic/photographic memory (most people don't) so even if she had been born knowing the full plot of Naruto, it's been a long time and a lot would be forgotten unless triggered and even then it would be a bit fuzzy at best.
> 
> Anyways, I hope that helps clear up any possible remaining confusion about Momoka and her memories/knowledge about the Narutoverse. Please feel free to ask any further questions if you have them, and I will do my best to answer if I can so long as it doesn't give away future plot points. I feel like if one person asks, there's at least 3 more who thought the same but didn't.
> 
> Finally, if you're curious about Hashirama's Garden of Love and Devotion and how it came about, that backstory is up on Red Solo Cup.
> 
> See you next chapter, with Gai's finished haircut!


	5. I'll Cry If I Want To

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for all the comments, kudos, and bookmarks! Y'all really helped me get through this last month of crazy. Between personal life issues/drama, death in the family, Kakashi being a little troll, and realizing a couple of little plot things I could expand on...this took a helluva a lot longer to get out than planned. I will do my best to keep to a better schedule from here on in.

Tenten stared at her sensei as he brightly smiled and talked animatedly with the hairstylist in the lobby of the salon. He was much more relaxed than when they came in, which was her ultimate goal, and his hair was undoubtedly shorter, possibly shorter than she’d ever seen it, and his eyebrows had been trimmed down, still thick but maintained and no longer bushy. But she couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed because, “It looks the same.”

This caught the attention of the stylist and her sensei and both looked at her, one with a knowing smile and the other with a smile that wasn’t quite as bright as before. ‘Crap,’ she winced, ‘I didn’t mean to say that out loud.’

“True,” Momoka seemed to take pity on her, “The overall style is the same, just shorter and with more texture to it. It suits him.”

A thought appears to cross her mind as she steps away from the once again perked up Gai and towards her product shelves looking for something, “While the cut doesn’t need to be styled and can simple be worn as a wash and wear…ah!” she finds the product she was looking for and comes back, unscrewing the top to reveal a waxy looking paste with a soft herbal scent. She uses the back of a nail to remove a tiny amount before putting the lid back on, pressing the container into Gai’s hands, and starts molding the product between her fingers causing it to soften and spread onto them. “Bend down a bit, please.”

She runs her fingers through Gai’s hair, leaving it looking stylishly tousled, “But add a little bit of product, and it styles pretty easily for those occasions when you want to do a little more.”

He tries to handle the small tub of product back to her. She just smiles, shakes her head, and uses her hands to wrap his more securely around the product, “Nope, this is my gift to you. Happy birthday, Gai-san.”

Gai looks ready to burst into happy tears, Momoka is just smiling happily back at him, and Tenten is beginning to feel incredibly uncomfortable watching this increasingly awkward scene unfold as no one moves. She clears her throat, “Right, so. Thank you again, Imai-san. Until next time.”

That seems to snap Momoka out of whatever staring match she and Gai had been in, “Oh, right, of course! Now, to properly maintain the cut, I recommend coming in every four to six weeks. I know that in can be hard with mission’s schedules and all that, but I hope to see you around then.”

“Yes! I will be here every four weeks, or I will climb Hokage Mountain without my hands!” Gai exclaims with a thumbs up and wink.

After confirming the next appointment, Tenten ushers Gai outside to join the remaining two members of their team and head off to training. Unfortunately for Tenten, a relaxed and overjoyed Gai was somehow even more intense about training than ever before.

Momoka listened to the sounds of Team Gai walk away from the salon, it seems Lee is just as enthused as Gai is about the haircut, as she turns around to finish the clean up. She has about ten minutes before her next appointment is due to arrive, so she thinks about Gai’s haircut as she sanitizes everything.

He was surprisingly easy to talk with once he relaxed. Listening to him talk so passionately about his students and training and Konoha it was easy to get swept up in the conversation and forget where and when she was. But now that she was alone with her thoughts it was all she could think of.

‘How the fuck did this even happen?’ She thoroughly wipes the hair off of her tools and counter, dropping some into the sanitizing solution and spraying the rest with another. ‘No, never mind that, whatever happened happened, so what do I do now? I mean, bad shit’s gonna happen here, right? Fuck! Why can’t I remember anything? I know I didn’t watch much, but Izzy had me watch the key episodes at least!’

She sanitizes the station surfaces and chair before moving to do the same at the shampoo station. ‘Ugh, if only I hadn’t just blown all my money moving and getting set up here I could have looked into going to the capital instead. I don’t remember Izzy saying anything about the capital from the series, and stories back home made it sound pretty nice. Not a lot of shinobi there, probably, so it should be safe from whatever’s coming, right? And something is coming, people don’t write stories about places where nothing happens.’

Momoka returns to the service station with the broom and dustpan and sighs dejectedly at the hair on the ground, ‘Maybe I should just go home? It’ll be safe there.’

_Hands dirty and callused from farm work press her up against an old silo and the older boy, whose father manages the village’s food stores, looms over her, “C’mon, Momoka-chan, just say you’ll marry me already. Then you can give up this silly hair stuff an’ relax takin’ care of things at home. B’tween me an’ our son’s, you’ll ne’er hafta work again.”_

She shudders at the memory and starts to sweep aggressively. ‘Nope. No. Never going back there. Whatever ninja shit is coming is still better than living with that!’

Another sigh escapes her as she stops and stares up unseeingly at the ceiling, ‘Well I guess that’s that then. Come what may, Konoha is my home now.’ A sparkling smile flits across her mind, ‘Well, it won’t be all bad, I suppose. The people here are really nice, at least.’

A small smile stays on Momoka’s face as she finishes cleaning with a new resolve, just in time for her next client to arrive.

That evening, long after the sun had set, and in a distinctly non-civilian area found Gai celebrating his 28th birthday with a “quiet” guy’s night out at the local shinobi bar, The Rusty Kunai. Gai, Genma, Raido, Kotetsu, Izumo, and Asuma surrounded a table laden with drinks and glasses, already in various states of drunkenness when Kakashi’s slouched form materialized out of the crowd, nose in a conspicuous orange covered book, and sat in the only remaining empty seat. The only indication that he was aware of anyone else being the aloof greeting of “Yo” as he sat.

“KAKASHI! MY ETERNAL RIVAL! SO COOL! SO HIP!” Gai wailed, deeply moved by Kakashi’s appearance at his small celebration.

“And only two hours late,” Genma snickered and Kotetsu and Izumo joined in.

“Hey, why don’t you put the book away and actually join us for a drink,” Asuma teased as Raido filled another glass for the silver haired nin.

Kakashi let out a put-upon sigh and started to put his beloved Icha Icha away, taking in more of his surroundings than what his peripheral senses provided. All but Gai were watching him closely, waiting for a reaction to “The Haircut”, yet only Gai noticed the brief pause as he put the book in his pouch.

“Eh…sorry. Took longer to write up that mission report than I thought,” Kakashi was as monotone as ever.

“Right, you really expect us to believe you were actually filling out a mission report?” Genma asked with a snort of disbelief. “It’s been days since you had a mission.”

“Ah, so it has,” Kakashi agreed sagely.

“Then, what— you know what, no, never mind. That’s not important right now,” an exasperated Raido interjected, shaking his head. He turned and motioned to Gai with a flourish, Kotetsu and Izumo joining in on either side like a pair of game show prize models. “Don’t you have anything to say?”

“Hmm?”

The gesturing intensifies.

“Oh, yeah. Happy birthday, Gai,” Kakashi lifts his glass to him. The rest of the table deflates.

Gai lets out a booming laugh as he raises his glass in return, “MUCH APPRECIATED, KAKASHI!”

“OH, for the love of—!” Genma looked ready to start tearing out his own hair from sheer frustration. “His hair! What do you think of his haircut?!”

“Ahh…that,” Kakashi drawled, as if just understanding. “Looks good, Gai. It suits you.”

Gai puffs up at the praise, smile in full sparkle, “THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT MOMOKA-SAN SAID1”

“Momoka-san?” Kakashi was confused by the name he’d never heard before.

“Oh, god…”

“No!

“Don’t—!”

“Who’s Momoka-san?” he asked.

“Shit…”

“Why, Kakashi? Why?”

Gai gasped and Kakashi started to reconsider all his life choices as the sparkling intensified. If one squinted, they could almost see rainbows and flowers start to appear around Gai.

“MOMOKA-SAN IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FLOWER IN ALL OF KONOHA! SO KIND AND COMPASSIONATE! SUCH YOUTH AND FIRE! SHE IS A GRACEFUL PEACH BLOSSOM, COME TO BLESS US ALL WITH BEAUTY!”

Kakashi stared at Gai in bewilderment as he dissolved into tears and drunken mutterings punctuated by exclamations of “YOUTH!” and “BEAUTY!” He slowly turned to the rest of the table for an explanation to find them all in various states of resignation.

“Look what you did. We had just gotten him to calm down again!” Raido hissed, glaring at Kakashi accusingly.

“He’s been like this all day,” Genma sighed.

“So…who is she?”

Asuma let out a put upon sigh, “She’s that new hairstylist that moved to Konoha and opened shop a couple months back. It’s been gaining popularity quickly over the last month or so. His students decided to treat him for his birthday.”

Izumo snorted, “Probably the girl’s idea.”

Kotetsu nodded, “Not that it wasn’t needed, though.”

“Hey!” Genma shot Kotetsu an incensed look. “His haircut before wasn’t that bad!”

Kakashi made a mental note to check out this “Momoka-san” and her salon for Gai’s sake as he patted Genma’s shoulder consolingly, “Of course it wasn’t.”

“Oh, fuck you, Kakashi!”

Eventually they pulled Gai back into the present and the celebrations and drinks continued. They called it a night after Gai’s fifth breakdown into exclamations about the “BLOSSOM”, “BEAUTY”, and “YOUTH!’ sometime in the early morning hours.

A couple of months flew by before Momoka even realized it. Most days felt like barely controlled chaos, but she was thriving in it. She looked forward each week to the almost meditative peace Ibiki’s regular visits brought. It was the one hour of work that was never interrupted by curious customers and clients somehow. ‘Maybe I should look into getting an assistant or receptionist? If this keeps up, I don’t think I’ll be able to do everything myself.’

And Gai true to his word had been back exactly four weeks after his first appointment and immediately booked a third exactly four weeks from that one. It was at this appointment in the final week of February that Gai learned that Momoka’s birthday was only a couple more weeks out on March 18th.

“How wonderful! Happy early birthday, Momoka-san! You must have some very Youthful plans already!” Gai exclaims as she finishes cutting his hair.

“Eh, well…not really. Just work. I’ll probably get myself a treat for after that though to celebrate! Maybe some dango!” she smiles at him in the mirror as she dusts any loose hair off the back of his neck before undoing the drape. She falters slightly at the growing look of horror reflected back at her.

“Surely your friends wish to make plans with you on such an auspicious day?”

“I, um, I’ve been so busy with moving and getting everything set up here, I…haven’t really met anyone outside of here,” Momoka flushes with embarrassment. ‘And now I must seem like some sort of fuckin’ anti-social reject…’

The drape flutters to the ground as Gai jumps up and grabs both of her hands in his. “Do not worry, Momoka-san! I will take care of everything!”

‘What?’ A glimpse of her face in the mirror shows she looks as bewildered as she feels. “What?”

“After you are finished with work, I will take you out to celebrate!”

“…Why?” Momoka wants to slap herself for that, but her hands are still caught in his large, callused ones.

“Because no one should be alone on their birthday. Especially not someone as Youthful as you. And because I would like for us to be friends,” a dusting of pink flares up across Gai’s cheeks, and he seems to become uncharacteristically shy and uncertain. “That is, if it is alright with you.”

‘Now that’s adorable.’ She smiles and squeezes his hands lightly. “I would like that, Gai. Thank you.”

“YOU ASKED HER ON A DATE?!?!” Tenten’s exclamation echoed through the training field halting Lee and Neji’s spar.

“No, it is merely a celebratory outing between friends,” Gai explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “For her birthday.”

Tenten stares down her sensei in utter disbelief, “Just the two of you.”

“Correct.”

“Going out for dinner.”

“Yes.”

“On her birthday.”

“That is right.”

“But it’s not a date.

“Exactly!”

“Riiiight…” she sighs and shakes her head. “Just make sure to take her somewhere nice –NOT the Rusty Kunai— and maybe get her something simple, like flowers.”

“Flowers. I see,” Gai rubs his chin in thought before seeming to settle on an idea. “Thank you, Tenten, you have been most helpful!”

Focusing back on his students, he gives his trademark thumbs up and smile, “Continue your training. I urgently need to visit the Yamanaka Flower Shop now to prepare!”

“REMEMBER SIMPLE!” she shouts at the dust cloud left behind. “I have a bad feeling about this…”

The day of her birthday Momoka woke up early and immediately started getting ready for the day, too excited to just lounge in bed a bit longer. She leisurely ate her breakfast and put a little bit more effort than usual when doing her hair and makeup ‘just to kill some time, since I have so much of it this morning.’

‘Oh, who am I kidding? I’m excited for tonight! It’s been way too fucking long since I got to go do anything fun with a friend.’ She pulls out one of her nicer kimono to put on and a few coordinating accessories. ‘And Gai’s nice, fun to talk to. It’ll be a good time!’

Finished with getting ready, she leaves for the salon with plenty of time to spare. Better to get things ready early and take care of a few extra things than sit around doing nothing at home.

She arrives in front of Shizukesa in record time, unlocks the door, steps into the pitch black salon, and flips on the lights. What she sees makes her freeze in shock. “What the…”

Almost every surface inside, including the walls somehow, is covered in flowers. Intricate arrangements of yellows, blues, and pinks as far as the eye can see. ‘Are those peonies? And plum blossoms? What in all the hells is this? There’s hundreds of them! Am I being punk’d?’

At that moment movement caught her eye, bringing her attention to the figure in green in the middle of the floral sea. “Gai?”

He sends her his most dazzling smile yet, “Happy Birthday, Momoka-san!”

[Reference Pic link](https://trochan03.tumblr.com/post/642985096700428288/reference-pic-for-a-fic)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I tried to insert the reference pic for the haircut down here at the bottom of everything, and I hope it works. If not, I'll edit with a link.
> 
> Anyways! Thanks again for all your support and patience! It's all starting to pick up from here!
> 
> Edit: there is now a link to the pic. Side note, the more I look at the "After" pic, the more attractive Gai becomes (since he's very clearly based off of Bruce Lee).

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed that! Let me know what you think in the comments! Constructive criticisms always appreciated, flames laughed at then deleted. And if responding to someone else, be kind to each other too please; I would hate to have to restrict the comments section in any way.


End file.
